Middo Challenges us on Fair Trade

I was reading Middo’s World today and was challenged by his questions on purchasing stuff Fair Trade, not just coffee but everything. A link from his comments sent me to this article…

Cheap, chic clothing is costing us the earth

By Susie O’Brien

October 23, 2007 08:19am

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IT’S time to examine our clothes in a new light and look at how cheap fashion could be costing us the earth.

Green is the New Black, a new book by British style guru Tamsin Blanchard, challenges us to shop ethically by becoming aware of the social and environmental implications of what we buy.

But if you’re like me and more eco-worrier than eco-warrior, don’t panic.

The book is aimed at those who are more partial to Havaianas than hemp and who don’t want to spend their spare time knitting purses out of recycled onion bags.

As model Lily Cole puts it in the introduction, we may make an effort to ride bikes and buy organic apples, but rarely consider something as simple as inexpensive socks.

Sure, she goes on to explain, we may love the idea of the $4.99 cotton sock, but the bargain price makes it easy to overlook the fact that the cotton may have been picked by underpaid children in Uzbekistan and sewn together in Bangladesh by workers getting paid 11 cents an hour for an 80-hour week.

And why does everyone get away with it?

It’s because shoppers in the Western world don’t want to pay more than $5 for socks. Cole’s words came to haunt me this week as I found myself in the footwear aisle of Target. <more>

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One thought on “Middo Challenges us on Fair Trade”

Thanx 4 the tip. Go the op shops. If I only bought expensive, ‘green’ friendly clothes 4 the whole fam I wonder if we’d be living on the poverty line? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Can I afford sox for $15 x 6 people x 7 days ea? I’m usually a kmart girl myself (confession). I’ll keep exploring this issue but thanx 4 putting in the research 4 us.

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I sometimes make things in my shed from wood, I drink coffee with people for a living, I read, I walk, I paddle, I spend time discovering stuff about a person called Jesus and I live with and love Mikaela, Andy and Sophie my three kids and Christine my amazing wife...and Max my Border Collie...and some chooks...and a rabbit called chook.